Film: Call Me By Your Name

Feeling somewhat grumpy after a frustrating medical appointment on Tuesday* I looked up what was on at the cinema other than The Last Jedi (promised to see it with youngest sister) and so took myself off for a de-grumping 6 o'clock showing of Call Me By Your Name yesterday. And very good it is. Not simply a lovely Italian summer**, but a sort of ideal of warm leisured society of a certain wealthy intellectual type*** in a large house somehow mysteriously short of bedrooms in which beautiful young people or at least young people with the potential to become beautiful**** fall for one another. In this case, Elio the musical son of an academic, and Oliver, the graduate acting as a research assistant for Elio's father over the summer.

I think Peter Bradshaw's dead on when he calls it an "erotic pastoral". Bradshaw and I don't always agree, but his review very much captures what I thought about the film. It is beautifully shot, terrifically acted, and very much character-based, about how these people behave in this situation.

The book apparently has an epilogue not included in the film. As it is currently 99p on Kindle and I'm interested to see how it has been adapted, I bought it. So no doubt I shall find out when I get round to it.

*Arranged for tests and referred to different department(s). Timetable unknown.

**Not as hot as in A Room With a View, but presumably not intended to achieve that stultifying impression, and also involving people wearing fewer clothes.

***David Lodge's c haracters might well be as intelligent, but they could only dream of the environment. Well, except Morris Zapp. Now I want a crossover fic in which Zapp turns up and ends up sleeping with both parents.

****Timothée Chalamet as 17 year old Elio is so good that I actually found myself thinking that they must be filming in chronological order to allow them to show the subtle aging of the character over the course of the summer. It turns out that the actor is 21. Armie Hammer is also very good, but I think a couple of years too old to portray the character's elements of insecurity.